Can Vijay Shankar Strengthen Bowling to be a Potential All-Rounder?

We get a seam-bowling all-rounder in India and we lose our heads as it is an endangered species in India. There is hardly any competition for the spot and after the legendary Kapil Dev, the place has been hardly filled by any other all-rounder. Irfan Pathan came close but he also faded away after a while. Recently, Hardik Pandya has shown the same promise and so has Tamil Nadu all-rounder Vijay Shankar.

Vijay Shankar had a disastrous Nidahas Trophy final against Bangladesh in 2018 where he was struggling to put bat to ball. However, Shankar was determined to turn the tables. He worked hard with India A coach Rahul Dravid and he was able to place the things in order. The right-hander impressed on the tour of New Zealand while representing India A where he got an 87 and 59 in successful run-chases.

Those performances must have added a shot in the arm for the Tamil Nadu batsman. The confidence which had struck new lows after the Nidahas Trophy final was lifted up by a good show in IPL and after consistent performances for India A. Shankar had scored 212 runs for Delhi Capitals in IPL 2018 in 11 innings.

Meanwhile, since Vijay Shankar has played for the national side, he has shown his calibre with the bat. He is someone who focusses on getting his timing right. The right-hander is not a power hitter as he relies on timing to get his runs. He has a compact batting technique and he is more of a batting all-rounder.

Consequently, Vijay Shankar has taken some giant strides in the cricket world. He was at his best in the second One Day International against Australia at Nagpur. Shankar scored a fluent 41-ball 46 and even dominated the great Virat Kohli. Both of them added 81 runs for the fifth wicket and Shankar scored a free-flowing knock.

Furthermore, Shankar oozed the nerves of steel in the final over. Shankar had 11 runs in the bank and he spent only two runs and took as many wickets to help India win the thrilling contest. However, there is no doubt that Vijay Shankar needs to pull up his socks in the bowling department.

Shankar bowls gentle seamers and he has an economy of 5.61 in his young career. The rookie all-rounder will like to add a couple of yards to his bowling pace. Moreover, Shankar can work more on his action to yield more pace. He would like to hit the right areas to improve his bowling. If the greenhorn all-rounder can strengthen his bowling, he could be India’s potential all-rounder.